Harvey Presents Big Test for Trump

President Trump is facing a major test as Hurricane Harvey approaches Texas: His first major natural disaster as commander in chief. (Published Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017)

With “very dangerous” Hurricane Harvey bearing down on the U.S. Gulf Coast, President Donald Trump is facing the first major national disaster since he took office.

New FEMA Director Brock Long told MSNBC Friday he was expecting a “very significant disaster” along the coasts of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana. A life-threatening Category 3 storm, Harvey is expected to make landfall late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

Trump, who spent the earlier part of his Friday tweeting his frustrations with Senate Republicans, praising his chief of staff and boasting about his administration's success, tweeted shortly before noon that he was “closely monitoring” storm developments.